


the lock

by orphan_account



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-13 05:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20576942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “Uh...Okay." Ken scratches the back of his head nervously. "Are you sure it wasn’t one of mine?”“Of course I'm sure! I know my hair from your hair! Yours is more silvery-white anyway. This was grey, Kaneki. GREY!”





	the lock

**Author's Note:**

> In this story, Touken has three babbies because I like the number #3. Maybe the second kiddo is actually kiddoS, as in twins? Not important to the plot, really as it is only mentioned in passing but I wanted to share this occasional hc I sometimes indulge it.

This morning the kids are out of the house.

Well, they weren’t so exactly kids anymore. More like rebellious little hell spawns as Touka had taken to calling them. Call Ken old fashioned but he still preferred the tried and true term of teenagers.

Whatever their parents did or didn’t call them, the point being that they were out of the house doing..._teenager-y_ stuff. For Ken, this was weird to think about for a few reasons. Most pressingly, it seemed like it was only yesterday when they were squirmy babies dependent on him and Touka for everything. And now? Now Ichika was attending University and the boys were attending high school.

Ken could hardly remember what it was like to be a typical teenager. Even before his disastrous 'date' with Rize he had never been the average teen boy. He had always been too consumed in books and his studies to really experience the teenage life, at least according to Hide. His oldest friend had more than once told him back then that he needed to _‘stop acting like a geriatric geezer and live a little!’ _And it just so happens when Ken took his advice he ended up on a date with a notorious binge eater that set him down a spiraling path that led him to _here_.

It was crazy how life worked.

Whatever experiences he missed out on during his prime teenage years, it seemed his kids were picking up the slack. Who would have guessed his children would be social butterflies? Ichika, in particular, had a fantastic knack for balancing her social life with her academic prowess. That girl was going places, and Ken couldn’t wait to watch like the proud papa he was.

Still, he knows he'll mourn when the kids move out and truly start their own lives; he is reminded of this as he passes the three empty bedrooms on his way to make coffee. Though his brew still pales in comparison to his wife’s he knows she’ll appreciate it nonetheless when she comes out from the bathroom.

He ruminates silently on the state of his aging family. He wonders if it is ridiculous for him to start already feeling premature empty nest syndrome. But, he reminds himself with a sigh that this was the fate of all parents and children. He had helped raise them -- and he thought he did a pretty damn good job and had prepared them for the real world. He even liked to think he made it a little safer for them. With that thought, the sadness brewing in him seemed to lessen. He did as he was meant to do, and soon he could sit back and watch as his children truly blossomed into adults.

Just as he finishes pouring them both a cup, Touka slinks in. The glower she wears stop him from greeting her cheerfully like he usually did. She looked _pissed_.

Immediately Ken's mind wonders what did he do – or forget to do – today? Did he forget to clean up the sink after his morning shave? He didn’t take the trash out last night, did he? Her sour expression doesn’t even change as he gingerly presents her with her coffee. Instead, she looks on angrily at the wall. Oh fuck – did she find out it wasn’t the boys who broke her bunny lamp? Sure, that was nine years ago, but the loss of that damn lamp still haunted him.

“Are you okay -"

She doesn't let him finish.

“I found a grey hair!” she near screams, her face splotchy. Had she been crying? “I found a grey hair, Kaneki!” Her eyes implore him to _fix it_.

“Uh...Okay." Ken scratches the back of his head nervously. "Are you sure it wasn’t one of mine?”

“Of course I'm sure! I know my hair from your hair! Yours is more silvery-white anyway. This was grey, Kaneki. _GREY!_” She grabbed her coffee and squeezed the cup in such a fierce grip that Ken started to worry that she would crack the ceramic. “I don’t know what to do.”

And in truth, Ken didn’t know what to do either. Because it was all so...ridiculous. He really didn’t understand, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to unscrew the top of Touka’s head and peer inside even to begin to understand.

He thinks it is silly even when it clicks in his brain that she is self-conscious about her hair greying. As if would lessen her or something - make her unattractive. _ Silly _. 

Ken could tell her as much, tell her how beautiful she was, but even now she scoffed at him when he praised her appearance. Some things never changed. 

Then he thought about appealing to her logical side and telling her it was a blessing that they were both getting older – that they were alive with a happy family that was getting older – but having been married to her for so long he also knew that when Touka got into these moods, though rare these days, a voice of reason regularly went ignored. She liked action, not words.

“I can always get you some hair dye when I go out today if it bothers you that much.” He hopes the plan soothes her. It doesn’t; it seems to enrage her.

“I don’t want hair dye!” Her glare is withering. As if she had blood wine instead of coffee, she downs the still-warm liquid in a few gulps. Ken watches with thinly veiled bemusement. When she sets the empty cup down, he asks if she feels better. Touka scowls at him, but only for a moment. She can’t muster anymore. The anger ebbs from her as quickly as it had filled her. Now she looks defeated, like someone accepting their death. “I’m getting old,” she groans.

“No, you’re not.” She throws him her patented _‘Don’t you dare lie to me Kaneki Ken’_ looks and he sighs, conceding. “Okay, well we’re both getting old then.” She looks down at the table like a sad puppy. Or a bunny. Ken continues, “But isn’t that a good thing? Isn’t that what we both wanted?” Now that she was calm maybe she’d listen to sound logic. He smiles and reaches for her hand across the table; he grasps it in his, their finger lace together tightly. “Didn’t we want to grow old together?”

He doesn’t miss the way her lips pull upwards slightly. She squeezes his hand, thumb brushing over his knuckles. “I guess you’re right.” She exaggerates a long sigh. She once told him she hated it when he was right.

The brat, Ken thinks lovingly.

With the mental breakdown expertly diverted, Ken gets up from his chair and collects their cups. After washing them, he walks back to Touka, still sitting. One of his hands rests on her shoulder while the other hand's fingers comb through her hair. He feels her stiffen slightly before relaxing. It was almost like she feared him spying a grizzled lock. The thought caused him to smile.

Leaning down, he kisses her cheek. She turns her head, so their lips touch chastely. The kiss is sweet and familiar – comfortable like the life they’ve built together. As he pulls away, a thought occurs to him. A red flag is practically waving in his brain – _don’t do it! _It reads, but his wicked tongue says it anyway. “I can’t wait until we have the same color hair, Touka-chan. We’ll match.”

The tease was worth the elbow to the gut, and even as she mummers ‘you're an asshole’ she doesn’t fight it as he pulls her up and into his arms for a deeper kiss.

“I’m sorry. Let me make it up to you,” Ken whispers against her lips. 

He had plenty of time to earn her forgiveness. 

After all, the kids were out.

**Author's Note:**

> Why does the thought of Touka and Kaneki growing old together and watching their family grow up fill me with so much joy aaaahhhh (`･ω･´)


End file.
